If you’ve been reading Stephanie’s Order of the Blade series you know the premise of the series. Two thousand years ago from a war between two brother a legacy was born. The Calydon warriors’ purpose was the keep the world safe from evil and when needed to kill a Calydon warrior and/or his sheva (mate) when the Calydon warrior went rogue/mad after finding her.

Ian Fitzgerald’s sheva was killed by Elijah Ross (hero from the 3rd book) almost seconds after he had found her. Throughout all 3 books we saw Ian as a very angry and tormented man because of this. In this short novella we get Ian background. His ancestor Augustus Fitzgerald had brought a curse upon his family by killing the soul mate of a Calydon warrior who was into black magic. The warrior then cursed Augustus and all his offspring to experience love and then to lose said woman and to be so overwhelmed with grief that they killed themselves. Ian is the last Fitzgerald remaining alive and since losing his sheva is fighting the demons that want to take control and have him end his life.

At the end of the 3rd book we find Ian carrying out a dying woman who he says is his sheva. But how can this be when we know his sheva had already been killed by Elijah. Well we find out how in this book. And what an interesting concept. There isn’t really a HEA at the end of this book because that will be had when Ian’s full length book comes out later in the series. But what this novella does give you is hope for Ian’s future.
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Very quick read / short novella, but very well done. I actually prefer this style to the full novels of the series which tend to get muddled and repetitive. This short story was clean and tight while at the same time delivering a good connection to the characters. It feels like, if you were to strip away much of the repeating internal dialogue of the novels, you may be left with these types of exciting novellas. ( )

Very quick read / short novella, but very well done. I actually prefer this style to the full novels of the series which tend to get muddled and repetitive. This short story was clean and tight while at the same time delivering a good connection to the characters. It feels like, if you were to strip away much of the repeating internal dialogue of the novels, you may be left with these types of exciting novellas. ( )